New Tyrone Ladies manager McCann bullish about new year challenge

AN opportunity for several high profile double headers in the National League at the start of the new year has Tyrone ladies new manager Darren McCann buzzing as he gets to grips with preparation for a first Division One campaign for the county since 2016.

Both Tyrone Seniors men and ladies teams are home on the opening day of their respective 2025 league campaigns on January 26th with the men hosting Derry and the ladies having Meath as visitors.

The second round will feature both sides away to Armagh a week later with the Armagh board aiming to organise a double bill to help celebrate their ladies National League success this past season.

New Tyrone Ladies boss Darren McCann admits that if those NFL double headers do materialise it would represent a major fillip for his side.

“There are a couple of dates that might work and it would be a good opportunity to profile our game, a boost for the girls too. It’s certainly something we will look at but we will wait and see. I’m sure Armagh will be looking at the game on February 2nd for a double bill. All that’s further down the line,” explained the new man at the helm.

McCann, who took over from Sean O’Kane, steered Tyrone to an Ulster Minor title this season and a spot in the All-Ireland decider where they lost out to Sligo. While he’s been hampered to an extent with the new LGFA rules regarding pre-season preparations he’s positive about the new challenge awaiting him and his backroom team.

“ There’s a few girls coming up from minors which is great for their development and we have some players returning too which is fantastic for the squad, while there are a few girls travelling this year,” confirmed the Ballygawley based teacher.

McCann could expect to see Slaine McCarroll, Emma Mc Carron and Siobhan Sheerin back among the ranks. Minor captain Sorcha Gormley has already featured at adult level, while Emily Conlan and goalkeeper Ellis McCaffrey had outstanding campaigns for the Minors.

“The opportunity to step up will be there for new faces” added Darren who has already met the current squad to lay out plans. There’s no doubt like other county managers he is itching to get started from December 1st.

“ We are just in the planning phase at the minute. As a management team we are all looking forward to get going in December especially now we know the league fixtures. While there will be changes the talent is there in Tyrone so if someone is not available it gives someone else the chance to step up.”

The 2024 Tyrone Club Championships were again hugely competitive across all three grades and the new Tyrone management took in the games to assess what quality was on show.

Sorcha Gormley was senior top scorer while her Carrickmore team-mate Gemma Begley rolled back the years. Another to stand out was Aoife Horisk who carried her excellent Tyrone form onto the club front.

Several other players had notable Club campaigns. Grainne Rafferty, Shauna McGurren, Christiane Quinn, Neamh Cleary and Shannon Cunningham were on top form, while Nicole Murphy, Sarah Devlin, Meave Maxwell, Amy Sheehy, Caiomhe Mc Carron and Keeva Owens also caught the eye.

McCann was hugely impressed with what he witnessed.

“ The Tyrone Championship this year was fantastic with some excellent games across all three divisions. Tyrone has no shortage of talent which we seen in abundance over the course of the Championship so we are looking forward to challenge and getting players to wear the Tyrone jersey.”

There is little over a month of preparation for Darren ahead of the Lidl National League. For Tyrone it will consist of four home games with three away outings, starting with that opener on January 26th against Meath. That’s followed by the Armagh away trip seven days later and a 9th February trip to Mayo.

Three homes games follow against Kerry, Waterford and Dublin before the final outing away to Kildare, the side that broke Tyrone hearts in the Division Two final at Croker Park earlier in the year.